1st car was a 75 or 76 (whichever was the first year of the rabbit) LIME GREEN 4 door Volkswagon Rabbit that I bought for $500.00. It put out a smoke screen that James Bond would have been proud of.
Engine parts would fall off that thing while it sat in the driveway overnight. By the time I sold it both motor mounts had broken and the engine was hanging by a length of chain on each side. When I drove it on smooth pavement, it would shake and shimmy like I was off road in a shockless jeep.
Sold it for $500.00 with over 100,000 miles on it.

2nd car was a 78 Mazda GLC. This car, no matter how hard I drove it, just wouldnt break down. I rolled it doing 75MPH (which was as fast as it would go) one night. My dad and I then found a junked out one and rebuilt it with the different body parts. By the time I sold it it had over 200,000 miles on it.
My parents said the girl I sold it to drove it for at least another 2 years.

3rd car was a 86 Mazda 323 that I drove for 9 years and put over 150,000 miles on.
I traded it in on what I drive now and have driven for 10 years tomorrow...........

MY 4th vehicle, a 96 4x4 King Cab Toyota Tacoma with over 200,000 miles on it.
It still runs great and doesnt burn a drop of oil.

My wife's 91 Honda Civic was a mafor piece of crap. So was my Suzuki RF900R - with the added headache of a company that won't stand behind their product when it is an obviously flawed design (as evidenced by hackneyed reworkings of the same flawed component in successive model years). My Yamaha Waveraider 1100 suffered from a flawed fuel delivery design which caused the third cylinder to run lean and hot - seizing multiple times. Corrected in current models.
If it makes you feel better to own "imported" vehicles then go for it, but I have no more faith in Japanese engineering than that of any other country (except China and England ).

My current daily driver is imorted; bought it back in '87, ancient near stone age technology, not much to go wrong-even has a carburetor and absolute minimal electronics.

Imported.......

....from Canada.

Last of the AMC Jeeps, old 4.2 litre six.(right out of the '56 Nash I believe) You can fix it with "Bronson Rocks"

Remember the old TV show "Along Came Bronson"? He used to crash his Harley into the bottom of a 500 ft. ravine and smack it back into good repair with whatever old rock he found lying around. Old Jeeps can be fixed that way.....My 71 Harley couldn't....I sold it and bought another Triumph....still have the Triumph over thirty years later. The Harley though is still a fond memory.

I was running out of countries!Only major country left in auto mfg was Italy, and being half Italian, I know bettern' that

I went for a ride thru the fields of my Uncles farm in a half Navy, half Army, cobbled together WWII Jeep. We were riding out to his airplane to check out the cattle situation back in the timber. It was a day in summer 1948 that forever caught my attention.

The AMC Wrangler came out in 86 and it was civilized just enough that I was able to convince the Wife that yes, she may actually be somewhat comfortable ocassionally in what was to be my back and forth to work four wheeled motorcycle. Which is what it was, and still is even today: my daily driver never to be seen with a top or doors. Took delivery in April '87 and haven't had a serious complaint all these years.

Had no choice where to buy it; only came from one place: A US company half owned by the French, assembled in Canada.

>>Which is what it was, and still is even today: my daily driver never to be seen with a top or doors.

Geez, you must live somewhere with less weather than Toronto. I had three inches of water in the bottom of my Jeep a week or so ago, just driving home from work. That was *with* the top on but no back or side window panels.